The US Defense of Marriage Act "hurts legally married same-sex couples and prevents companies from treating all employees as equals," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling tells AllThingsD. "Apple strongly supports marriage equality and we hope the Supreme Court will declare the law unconstitutional." The quote comes in response to questions about Apple's participation in legal measures against DoMA and California's Proposition 8.

Apple has supported gay rights for some time, for example having long offered the same health benefits to homosexual and heterosexuals couples. In 2008 the company made a rare political statement by speaking out against Proposition 8, which it further backed by contributing $100,000 to the "No on 8" campaign. The Prop 8 ballot measure -- intended to ban gay marriage in California -- passed regardless, but has since been met with legal challenges that could see it permanently reversed. Opponents of Prop 8 have argued that a referendum can't be used to strip away basic rights.